Decorative Woven Fibrous Furniture

ABSTRACT

A decorative woven fibrous furniture includes a framework and a slender body formed of a plurality of stranded core elements made of a natural fiber, then the core elements are enclosed with a protective sheath made of a polymer added with natural fibrous powder. The outer surface of the protective sheath may have more than two colors, and provided with decorative figures of straie, patterns or the like so as to beautify the appearance of the product. Then the slender body is woven on the furniture thereby completing decorative woven furniture. The furniture made as such is a perfect environment-conscious product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a piece of decorative woven fibrous furniture, and more particularly, to a piece of decorative woven fibrous furniture whose framework is clothed by at least one woven slender body material made of a natural fiber enclosed with a protective sheath made of polymer added with a natural fibrous powder, and the surface of the protective sheath has at least one colored striae, pattern or combination thereof.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the past, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,704,690 and 5,803,540 disclosed willow strip furniture. The furniture, having an appearance of woven willow strips, is composed of a furniture framework and a sheet formed of woven polymerized thread. The polymerized thread is further composed of an elongated core enclosed with a sheath. The elongated core is made of a polymer of foamed polyethylene, and the sheath is made of a mineralized polymer. The outer surface of the sheath has at least one recessed longitudinally extended slot, and a color strip extended in parallel with the slot, both slot and color strip are visual.

The material utilized by this invention is fully a product of polymer by the name of artificial rattan or woven plastic rattan used in furniture. As the mineralized polymer is not environmentally conscious it will result in a burden to the earth after deposition of the furniture. Such a flaw has to be eliminated.

Being engaged in the business of this field, the inventor of the present invention has been studying the possibility of developing an environmentally conscious woven fibrous furniture, which without using plastic polymer, and for the sake of environmental protection, and finally come out with the furniture utilizing the woven natural fiber disclosed by this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide decorative woven fibrous furniture which utilizes a commercially easily obtainable and environmentally clean substance as a woven material to cloth the furniture.

It is another object of the present invention in which the plastic polymer and the mineralized polymer are replaced with the national plant fiber and the polymer mixed with the natural fibrous powder to improve the agricultural benefit.

It is still another object of the present invention that the woven fibrous furniture made as such is fully environment-conscious and is more easily disposable than that is made by mineralized polymer.

To achieve the aforesaid objects, the woven material is composed of an elongated body with stranded core elements and a protective sheath. The stranded core elements are made of a natural plant fiber such as chaff, straw, barley stalk, coconut shell, wood shavings, and recovery paper pulp. The protective sheath enclosing the stranded core elements is made of a polymer mixed with natural fibrous powder. The polymer has at least one color, and the outer surface of the sheath is configurated into regular shape, irregular random shape, or rugged shape, with its transverse cross section formed into figures of triangle, ellipse, star, straight belt, curved surface, square or circle. The surface of the protective sheath is ornamented with differently colored striae, patterns or their combination, and also formed into figures of rectangle, circle, ellipse, star intermittently or staggeringly affixed thereon. Then the elongated body is woven longitudinally and transversely on the framework of a piece of furniture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings disclose illustrative embodiments of the present invention, which serve to exemplify the various advantages, and objects hereof, and are as follows.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are respectively enlarged fragmentary views of the decorative fibrous material in a first and a second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 through FIG. 8 shows various figures of the transverse cross section of the elongated body in a first embodiment.

FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are schematic views wherein two different colors are used for the protective sheath.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show two irregular patterns being formed on the protective sheath.

FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 are two additional different patterns formed on the protective sheath, and

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a completed decorative woven fibrous furniture according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 15, the decorative woven fibrous furniture of the present invention has a framework 4 (see FIG. 15) and more than one slender body formed of a plurality of stranded core elements 1 made of natural fiber. The core elements 1 is enclosed with a protective sheath 2 made of a polymer 21 added with natural fibrous powder 22, and various decorative FIG. 3 of striae, patterns, or their combination are formed on the outer surface of the protective sheath 2 in different colors.

Stranded core elements 1 are formed into a slender elongated body made of a natural fiber, which can be clearly seen from its cross section. The core elements 1 are fabricated through special machining process to decide its diameter. The protective sheath 2 enclosing the core elements 1, is configurated into various transverse cross sectional figures such as circle (FIG. 3) rectangle (FIG. 4), triangle (FIG. 5), ellipse (FIG. 6), star (FIG. 7) or combination there of so as to exhibit an appealing visual feeling after being clothed on the framework 4.

Returning to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, for further beautification, the outer surface of the protective sheath 3 is provided with different colored FIG. 3 of striae, patterns or combination thereof by various printing techniques such as screen, clinder, non-impact or laminate finish using thermal energy, static electricity, magnetic force or spray inking so as to affix the FIG. 3 on the outer surface of the protective sheath 2 after it is enclosed on the core elements 1. The FIG. 3 on the sheath 2 may be configurated in various geometric figures such as rectangle, ellipse, triangle, star etc.

As it has been mentioned, the core elements 1 are made of a natural fiber such as cotton and hemp mixed with mineralized fiber, and the protective sheath 2 is made of non-heated polymer 21 mixed with natural fibrous powder 22 (chaff, straw, barley stalk, coconut shell, wood shavings, recovered paper pulp). The protective sheath 2 encloses the core elements 1 through machine finish process and its polymer 21 may be non-colored or multi-colored so as to improve its appearance.

As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the polymer 21 of the two different colored protective sheath 2 employs ordinary plastic material or cellular plastics which belongs to a foamed polyethylene. In case the foamed polyethylene is used for the protective sheath 2, its surface will automatically become rugged when the stranded core elements 1 made of natural fiber come out of the die after molding so that enabling the FIG. 3 on the surface of the protective sheath 3 to exhibit a comfortable visualization of sinuous variation.

The aforesaid FIG. 3 including striae and patterns may be disposed on the surface of the protective sheath 2 with a constant distance, or at random such as intermittently or staggeringly as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

As shown in FIG. 13, the stranded core elements 1 made of a natural fiber are enclosed with a mono-colored protective sheath 2 made of the polymer 21.

As shown in FIG. 14, the stranded core elements 1 made of a natural fiber are enclosed with a protective sheath 2 made of the polymer 21 added with the natural fibrous powder 22 on which different colored FIG. 3 such as striae or patterns are formed.

It emerges from the above description that the decorative woven fibrous furniture of the present invention has several merits compared with the traditional ones, namely:

-   -   1. The main material used are obtained from the         environment-conscious natural resources completely free from the         worry of contamination.     -   2. An appealing appearance of the product aids to improve its         marketability.     -   3. Being done without any artificial polymer material, the         disposal of abandoned furniture never brings about the         problematic violation of environmental protection laws.

Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiments of the invention can of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims. 

1. A decorative woven fibrous furniture comprising a furniture framework and more than one slender body; wherein said slender body is formed of a plurality of stranded core elements made of a natural fiber, and said core elements are enclosed with a protective sheath made of a polymer.
 2. The furniture of claim 1, wherein a transverse cross section of said slender body is configurated into a circle, a rectangle, a flat plate, a triangle, an ellipse, a star or the combination thereof.
 3. The furniture of claim 1, wherein the polymer is mixed with natural fibrous powder.
 4. The furniture of claim 3, wherein a transverse cross section of said slender body is configurated into a circle, a rectangle, a flat plate, a triangle, an ellipse, a star or the combination thereof.
 5. The furniture of in claim 3, wherein an outer surface of said protective sheath is provided with at least one colored figure of striae, patterns or the combination thereof.
 6. The furniture of claim 5, wherein a transverse cross section of said slender body is configurated into a circle, a rectangle, a flat plate, a triangle, an ellipse, a star or the combination thereof.
 7. The furniture of in claim 3, wherein said polymer has at least two colors.
 8. The furniture of claim 7, wherein a transverse cross section of said slender body is configurated into a circle, a rectangle, a flat plate, a triangle, an ellipse, a star or the combination thereof.
 9. A decorative woven fibrous furniture comprising a furniture framework and more than one slender body; wherein said slender body is formed of a plurality of stranded core elements made of a natural fiber, and said core elements are enclosed with a protective sheath having more than one color.
 10. The furniture of claim 9, wherein a transverse cross section of said slender body is configurated into a circle, a rectangle, a flat plate, a triangle, an ellipse, a star or the combination thereof. 